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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

in the kitchen: enchiladas

growing up i never had much interest in domestic sort of things. i would tease my mom relentlessly, saying i would never do all those "homey" things like she did and well, guess what....i love it now. cooking, decorating, baking, organizing...i have morphed into quite the domestic goddess wannabe.

at the request of a longtime friend and scl reader, i will be posting a recipe a week. some may be easier than others, but my goal is to break it down as much as possible. i know when i started learning to cook, i always wanted step-by-step instructions with lots of pictures. so here goes...endchiladas green family style.

this recipe feeds two, possibly three. in my case i have one very hungry man and one very hungry toddler, so this is more of a feeds two kinda meal. just double it, triple it, quadruple it...whatever you need to do!

enchilada ingredients:

2 c chopped/shredded meat

1 pkg taco or fajita seasoning

4 taco or burrito sized tortillas

shredded cheddar

enchilada sauce ingredients:

2 T veg oil

2 T flour

1/4 c chili powder

1 8 oz can tomato sauce

1 1/2 c water

1/4 t cumin

1/4 t garlic powder

1/4 t onion salt

salt to taste

step one:

season your meat with the taco or fajita seasoning. for our enchiladas, i used leftover chicken and leftover flat iron steak. but you could use whatever you have. if you don't have leftovers, boil a couple chicken breasts and shred them or you can used ground beef. follow the directions on the seasoning packet. in my case, i added a 1/4 c water and my meat and just let it simmer until the meat was seasoned thru.

step two:

add about 1/4 c of meat filling to the center of your tortilla. i tend to like more filling, less tortilla, so i used taco size tortillas. burrito size are usually what enchilada recipes call for, so those work just fine, too. fold your tortilla on the ends, and then roll the sides in to create a pocket. place your seam side down in your baking dish. be sure to grease your baking dish with butter or cooking spray so that the tortillas don't stick.

step three:

once your enchiladas are all rolled up, spoon on the sauce. i used this recipe that i found online. you could, of course, use a packaged enchilada sauce, but i like to make as much homemade as i can. the recipe calls for 1/4 c of oil, but i found that this was too much. my mom's rule of thumb is equal parts flour and grease, so just use 2 T to match the amount of flour. to make the enchilada sauce:

heat the oil on med-high. add the flour and stir. add tomato sauce, chili powder and water and bring to a simmer. adjust your heat to keep at a simmer. add cumin, salt, garlic powder and onion salt and let the sauce simmer for about 10 minutes so that it thickens. stir occassionally.

step four:

once your sauce is finished and your enchiladas are in your greased baking dish, spoon about half the sauce over the enchiladas. i found that i used about half the sauce, so if you're doubling the recipe, perfect! if not, half the recipe or freeze the leftover sauce for next time. :) sprinkle your shredded cheese on top of this deliciousness and cover with lid or aluminum foil.

step five:

bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

voila! yummy enchiladas! i served ours over rice. you can use any kind that you like. it would also be delish with some refried beans and corn chips. yum.